


one more stray

by Spatz



Series: The Finish Your Damn WIPs Project [2]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animal Shelter, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 07:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spatz/pseuds/Spatz
Summary: In which Max volunteers at an animal shelter, and Furiosa trains rescues into service dogs and she spots him working there. Inspired by Tumblr art.





	one more stray

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by oyoshima's art on Tumblr, and [originally posted there](http://cactusspatz.tumblr.com/post/123353366285/cactusspatz-oyoshima-showers-max-in) back in 2015. ([archive link](https://web.archive.org/web/20190219010422/http://cactusspatz.tumblr.com/post/123353366285/cactusspatz-oyoshima-showers-max-in)) At one point I had this fantasy about continuing it, which is presumably why I never posted it here. I wrote exactly three more sentences ever so clearly THAT was a pipe dream, but I think the initial scene stands alone.

Furiosa walks into the shelter and nods a greeting to Val at the front desk. “You got something for me?” she asks, leaning on the counter.

Val grins. “Out in the yard. You’ll see which one I mean.”

It’s a game they like to play: Furiosa needs dogs with the right personality to train as combination service-and-guard dogs for abused women, and Val has the best eye for evaluating animals in town, thanks to a lifetime of shelter work. But Val’s also an old friend, and competitive as hell, so she always makes Furiosa guess which dog Val called her in to see.

Not that’s it’s particularly hard, today. 

There’s a number of volunteers in the shelter yard today, walking and socializing the animals, but her eye is instantly draw to the young Australian cattle dog near the back fence: a scruffy Blue Heeler with alert ears and a red bandana around his neck. He’s off-leash, but calm and utterly focused on the volunteer who’s playing with him, ignoring the other animals in the yard – including the cat who’s being walked around by a young female volunteer.

As she watches, the volunteer runs the dog through some basic commands - sit, stay, lie down, roll over, beg, speak, shake hands, and so on - and he responds instantly and smoothly to each order. The volunteer feeds him a treat, and then balances a second treat on the dog’s nose. It looks like this trick’s new – the dog wavers a few times as the man repeats his signal, and then finally stills and waits patiently, watching his trainer.

The volunteer has his hand raised to end the trick when a car backfires going past on the highway. The dog doesn’t move. But the man....

The man flinches, and jerks his hand down to his hip, like he’s reaching for a weapon.

Furiosa straightens out of her slouch against the doorframe, and takes a closer look at the man for the first time. He’s about her age, wearing a beat-up leather jacket and looking nearly as scruffy as the dog. He doesn’t carry himself like a soldier – Furiosa’s worked with enough veterans to spot one a mile off – but there’s a wire-tight alertness in the way he stands that’s terribly familiar, and he’s wearing the kind of expensive knee brace over his dark jeans that speaks of some sort of major injury.

He gives the release command absently, still half-turned towards the highway. The dog flips his nose and snaps the treat out of the air, then instantly darts forward to nose at the man’s hand. It takes a few nudges, and then some persistently licking, before the man’s shoulders drop imperceptibly and he turns back. He kneels, scruffing his big hands around the dog’s ears and neck until his eyes scrunch up with bliss. The man buries his face in the dog’s neck for a long moment before pulling back to say something. Furiosa can just make out the word ‘sorry’, repeated a few times, and 'good dog’.

She’s so caught up watching his hands gentle over the dog’s ears that it takes her a second too long to realize she’s being watched back.

Furiosa is too old to flush with embarrassment, but she feels the urge anyway, aware she’s seen something he didn’t want her to see. His gaze is wary, his chin tucked down defensively, and she can see the dog starting to respond to his mood, rising to his feet and moving protectively between them. She nods, carefully, trying to communicate her respect, and folds her arms loosely across her chest so that the man notices her prosthetic. He blinks, focusing down, and then meets her eyes again with a small return nod.

She smiles a little, but he just looks away, standing up and gesturing the dog to heel as he heads for the kennel door. One of the other dogs, a sleek chocolate lab, dashes away from its volunteer and trots along at his other side, pushing its head into his hand. He pets it affectionately, then points and issues a command, and the lab reluctantly walks back to its proper volunteer.

“So, what do you think?” Val says from directly behind Furiosa.

“Oh, I’m interested,” Furiosa says – and even in her own mind, she’s not sure if she’s talking about the man or the dog.


End file.
